Critiquing religion/churches is always a sensitive subject because it's too easy to paint everyone with the same brush and make sweeping pejorative statements which are as much an injustice as the behaviour being protested. In "Temple of Heaven," Hendryx walks the fine line of being critical of the way some people use religion as a means to an end without coming down on either any specific denomination or faith itself. There's nothing wrong with going to the church of your choice, but what's wrong are those out there pushing hatred in the name of their God. Far too many songs of this type alienate the majority of people because they come across as anti-religious, By being very specific with her target, Hendryx increases the chances people will pay attention to what she's saying and makes the song far more credible than if she just complained about church or religion.
What I really liked about Hendryx's approach to her material was she continually found ways to sing about a subject that didn't make it sound like she was preaching to us or that she's somehow morally superior to us. To quote Lou Read's "Strawman" song, "Does anybody need another self-righteous rock singer?" Here, Hendryx doesn't come across as self-righteous. Listen to her "environmental" song "Oil in the Water", and you'll hear her talking about oil spills: "There's oil on the water that no rain will wash away".
She doesn't just talk about the evils of the oil industry, however. She's created a song which talks about how oil spills are a symptom of what's wrong with society today. The song is about corporate greed, true enough, but it's also about how we've all become disassociated from the world around us and the danger that it represents. Even better, like all the tunes on this disc, she doesn't make any distinction between those listening to her music and her. We're all in this together and nobody is exempt from responsibility.
While I could go on and on about all the songs on this disc—her adaptation of the Billie Holliday classic "Strange Fruit" is brilliant and "The Ballad of Rush Limbaugh" will surprise you—I want to make special mention of "Black Boys". "Black boys in tight blue jeans/Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?/Black boys in tight blue jeans/Are you America's nightmare or America's dream".
Article comments